A pen-type syringe is easily carried and used when administration of a dose of medication is regularly needed, such as insulin administration and the like.
Due to a risk, such as infection and the like, the pen-type syringe is used by mounting hub equipped with a disposable needle whenever used. The needle is mounted on the center of the hub, and, in the present disclosure, the hub on which the needle is mounted is referred to as a pen needle.
As shown in FIG. 1, a commercially available needle set is generally configured to include a hub 400 on which a needle N is mounted, a tip cap 250, a large cap 500, and a sterilized sheet finishing material 290. In the present disclosure, a commercially available needle, which is configured with a hub having a needle, a tip cap, a large cap, and a sterilized sheet finishing material, is referred to as a needle set.
In a needle set, a tip cap covers a needle disposed at the center of a hub, a large cap is mounted over the tip cap, and a sterilized sheet finishing material is attached to a lower surface of the hub before the needle set is used. When the needle set is used, the sterilized sheet finishing material is removed, the hub having the needle that is covered with the large cap and the tip cap is mounted on a pen-type syringe, and then the large cap and tip cap are removed to perform injection. Generally, after using the needle, the tip cap or the large cap is remounted over the needle and then the hub is separated from the syringe to be discarded.
After using the hub on which the needle is mounted, a case in which, when the pen-type syringe and the hub are separated from each other, a user may be stuck with the needle while remounting the tip cap on the needle, or a case in which, when the separation between the pen-type syringe and the hub is performed without covering the tip cap on the needle, the user may be carelessly stuck with the needle while revolving the hub to perform a screw release, which frequently occurs.
Even after separating the hub having the needle which is used once and contaminated, there is an inconvenience in safely discarding medical waste, and there is also a possibility that the hub having the needle, which is a one-time consumable, may be reused.
Conventionally, a safety protection system separated from a pen needle has been widely developed to prevent reuse of a disposable needle which is used once and then discarded, but there is a burden on a user to purchase such a safety protection system at an additional cost and there is an inconvenience in that the user separately manages such a safety protection system.
That is, a conventional pen needle coupled to a syringe pen and disposably used has a form in which a needle protrudes from a hub toward the outside to be directly exposed to a user, and thus concerns such as needle sticks and the like exist, and the conventional pen needle that is a one-time consumable may be reused many times, and thus a risk such as secondary infection and the like exist, and thus a safety pen needle provided with a safety function and a structure for preventing reuse is necessarily needed for securing safety of a user in connection with health and safety issues.
Consequently, a safety protection system for a pen needle is required to block a repetitive reuse of a pen needle including a hub coupled to a pen-type syringe and having a needle (that is, an injection needle) which is provided at the center of the hub and is used as a one-time consumable, and to prevent pain and infection due to needle sticks.
Specifically, a safety protection system for a pen needle which is inexpensive, has a small size, is simple and easily carried, and is safer in use is required.
The present disclosure proposes a safety protection system for a pen needle which utilizes a shuttlecock-shaped supporter blade of an elastic material to simplify the structure and reduce the number of parts to reduce the manufacturing process and size of the pen needle.
Generally, as shown in FIG. 2, a syringe main body 605 is manufactured by plastic injection, is capable of assuring an antimicrobial property, is configured with a structure capable of administrating a dosage of a certain amount of an injection medication several to tens of times, and is provided with a scale part having a transparent window on which a scale is provided and configured to indicate a remaining amount of the injection medication, a pressing plate for administrating injection medication is provided at a lower end of the syringe main body 605, and a hub mounting part 54 for mounting a hub 400 having a needle N is provided at an upper end of the syringe main body 605. A syringe screw part 601 having a helically-shaped screw thread and serving as a male screw is provided at the hub mounting part 54 and is coupled to a hub screw part 407 that is provided inside the hub 400 so that the hub 400 having the needle N is engaged with an upper end portion of the syringe main body 605.
That is, a pen needle, which collectively refers to a hub having a needle at the center of the hub, is mounted on the syringe screw part 601 at the upper end of the syringe main body 605. Generally, a pen-type syringe is configured to administer a certain amount of a medication to a human body by a pressing pressure of a user, and is able to be disposably used by a pen needle being replaced whenever the pen needle is used due to a risk such as infection and the like.
FIG. 3a is a perspective view illustrating a needle fixing body 404 in a hub, and FIG. 3b is a perspective view illustrating the hub screw part 407 in the hub.
The hub 400 is provided with a needle fixing body 404 disposed at the center of an upper end 430 of a hub lower body 440, and a needle fixing body protrusion 421 disposed at an outer side of the needle fixing body 404, and the needle fixing body protrusion 421 and the needle fixing body 404 are inserted into a hub corresponding part 251 of the tip cap 250. The hub lower body 440 and the needle fixing body 404 are stepped. A needle insertion through-hole 405 is provided at the center of an upper end of the needle fixing body 404 to enable the needle N to be inserted thereinto.
A hub screw part 407 having a helically-shaped screw thread and serving as a female screw is provided at an inner side of the hub lower body 440 so that the hub lower body 440 is coupled to the syringe screw part 601. In the hub 400 having the needle N, the needle fixing body 404 and the needle N are covered with the tip cap 250. The large cap 500 is mounted over the hub 400 on which the tip cap 250 is mounted as described above.
A plurality of hub lower body protrusions 408, which are each formed in a bar shape, and a plurality of hub body recesses 442, which are each formed between every two of the plurality of hub lower body protrusions 408, are provided at an external wall of a hub lower body 440. The plurality of hub lower body protrusions 408 are each inserted into inner side recesses (not shown) provided at a lower portion of an inner side of the large cap 500, and thus the hub 400 and the large cap 500 are engaged.
The needle N is inserted into the needle insertion through-hole 405 provided at a central portion of the hub 400 to pass therethrough.
As a related art, Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2012-500063 and 2011-512196 disclose a safe pen needle assembly. Such a safe pen needle assembly has a complicated structure, and thus a unit price thereof may be relatively high.
As another related art, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-286562 discloses “Safety Treatment Cap Assembly for Medical Use” and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-112489 discloses “Adaptive Safety Pen Needle Assembly,” and each of these assemblies also has a complicated structure so that assembling is not easy and a unit price thereof may be relatively high.
As still another related art, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012-0277685 discloses that a shield into which a needle is inserted is formed to be a cylindrical shape, and thus, in some cases, when the needle (that is, an apex end part) is moved to be used, the needle may be damaged due to a collision with a wall of the shield.
Like the above-mentioned related art, the pen needle provided with a newly attempted safety function and a safety function restricted for the purpose of one-time use inevitably has a complicated structure due to an increase of the number of components configured to implement reuse prevention and safety functions in comparison with a typical pen needle, a manufacturing process thereof is also inevitably complicated, and further a size of an exterior appearance of the pen needle is greater than that of an exterior appearance of the typical pen needle in addition to manufacturing costs thereof being increased, so that a psychological burden on a user is finally increased with respect to the size of the pen needle, which is a one-time consumable, when the user engages the pen needle with a pen-type syringe to administer an injection medication to him or herself, and an economic burden on the user due to an increased purchase cost is increased.
However, the present disclosure provides a pen needle provided with a safety protection system, which utilizes a shuttlecock-shaped supporter blade of an elastic material to simplify the structure and reduce the number of parts to reduce the manufacturing process and size of the pen needle, thereby providing a less expensive, simpler and safer pen needle.